Articles written collectively by the Forward’s staff.
Forward Staff
By Forward Staff
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Rachel Gilmer
The Jewish Heart of #BlackLivesMatter The Jewish establishment struggled this year to come to terms with Black Lives Matter. Rachel Gilmer, a 28-year-old African American who was raised Jewish, both embodies the #BLM movement and was responsible for some of the Israel-related intersectionality that gave the establishment pause. The tensions came to a head with…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Judy Sheindlin
Judge Judy Still Tops After 20 Years Born Judith Susan Blum and known to the world as Judge Judy, Judith Sheindlin is an icon. Her television courtroom show, where she dispenses tough love with no nonsense, has made her ubiquitous and wealthy. 2016 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Emmy-Award winning show’s premiere. In that…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings David Wildstein
Pinning the BridgeGate Scandal on Chris Christie If they made a movie about David Wildstein’s roller-coaster political career and ties to high school classmate Chris Christie, it might be called “Revenge of the Nerd.” In October, Wildstein, 55, abandoned his political guru when his testimony in the explosive Bridgegate trial helped prosecutors secure convictions against…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Jonathan Greenblatt
ADL’s New Head Wades Into a Political Mess When Jonathan Greenblatt succeeded Abe Foxman as national director of the Anti-Defamation League last year, he replaced a man who had become synonymous with the organization he led for nearly three decades. But Greenblatt, 46, wasted no time in putting his distinctive stamp on the venerable agency,…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Danielle Berrin
Enough Was Enough In 2014, Danielle Berrin, the Hollywood reporter for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, was looking forward to her interview with Israeli author Ari Shavit, who was in America promoting his New York Times best-selling book “My Promised Land.” But the story that Berrin, 33, came away with was quite different from the…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Rachel Cowan
Helping Us Age Wisely When Rabbi Rachel Cowan turned 75 earlier this year, she threw herself a birthday party in keeping with her character. She asked friends and family members to celebrate with her at The Brotherhood Sister Sol, a nonprofit focused on youth development in Harlem, on whose board she sits. She fed and…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Mark Hetfield
At the Forefront of Syrian Refugee Relief This year, many Jews spoke out against the growing tide of nativism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. But for Mark Hetfield, the 49-year-old president of HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), stemming that tide was a matter of personal importance and professional pride. HIAS is the oldest international migration…
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A Year of Curses and Many Blessings Masha Gessen
Writing About Jews and Fighting for Gay Rights When Masha Gessen, 49, fled Russia as a teenage refusenik to come to America, she probably never imagined that she would someday become one of the Kremlin’s primary antagonists. But three decades on, she has emerged as one of the loudest and most eloquent critics of autocracy,…
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